Museums are centres filled with information designed to enlighten and educate the curious mind. Especially for children, museums introduce them to unknown worlds, spark their imagination and provide them with valuable learning experiences. Despite popular belief that museums only help fuel academic education, they, in fact, help broaden their horizons and provide knowledge regarding all spheres of life.
In this article have explored the importance of taking children to the museum
1: ENCOURAGES A LOVE OF HISTORY:
As the caretakers and guardians of history, museums offer children bigger connections and references to history than a traditional class. Taking your child to any museum, be it, a child museum, an art gallery of a science museum, each will play a huge role in impacting their historical knowledge and the innovation taking place before their eyes. Parents themselves don’t have to be ardent history lovers to take their kids to the museum. Reading out plagues to them, encouraging them to ask questions and holding their attention is more than enough.
2: PROVIDES AN EFFECTIVE WAY OF LEARNING:
As informal learning environments, museums are a culmination of resources that promote informal education which is a process by which individuals acquire values, knowledge, skills etc. that are not applicable to the only field but will aid them for a lifetime. A single visit to a museum near you will provide children with in-depth knowledge about different subjects that they can acquire slowly for museums let you stay as long as you want.
3: COMPARE AND CONTRAST: One of the biggest perks of visiting a museum is that since it is so packed with exhibits and information, it gives children the opportunity to analyse and compare between different exhibits and pinpoint what information is important. Being able to thus compare and contrast is crucial towards developing critical thinking skills in children.
4: ENCOURAGES QUESTIONS:
Museums are well enough equipped to awaken curiosity in young minds which in turn will lead to these children asking questions. Some of these questions may have immediate answers, some of them might need a great deal of thought to answer and some of them might not have any answers at all. No matter what they asked, all of these questions must be equally encouraged and children must be given the confidence to find the answers to them on their own.
5: MUSEUMS INSPIRE:
Museums have the ability to leave its visitors in awe of its grandeur and the amount of information it holds. They provide inspiration to young children via its resources including the planetarium that leaves them fascinated about the night sky and the solar system, the skeletons that keep them thinking about life before them, the artworks that arouse the creative mind etc. All in all, museums encourage children to dream, wonder and fantasise.
